Tag Archives: Pinhole Camera

In the past, I’ve tinkered with pinhole cameras. Nothing too serious. My first attempt at pinhole was the Viddy cardboard pinhole camera . Then there was the pinhole lens cap for a Pentax Sportmatic. Next, there was my semi-successful attempt at making the Tie Fighter pinhole camera. Last year my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told her I wanted a nice wooden pinhole camera. Her response, “Go buy it yourself.” So, I did. I found a local film photographer that sold me his Ondu 135 Pocket Pinhole camera.

Ondu’s success goes back to a Kickstarter in 2013. Elvis Halilović, a Slovenian industrial designer and carpenter, created six different types of pinhole cameras. At the end of 30-days, the Kickstarter was a success. Elvis manufactured and delivered cameras to pinhole enthusiasts around the world. The smallest and cheapest of these was the Ondu 135 Pocket Pinhole. Handcrafted in Slovenia, the Ondu 135 is made of chestnut and maple wood. The back of the camera and advance/rewind spools on the top are held in place by magnets. The pinhole size is 0.20mm, a focal length of 25mm, giving you an 81° field of view and an aperture of f/125. The camera has a standard tripod mount on the bottom. To trigger the shutter, you simply slide the horizontal wood piece on the front of the camera up, uncovering the pinhole, allowing light to enter the camera to expose the film. Since the initial launch in 2013, Ondu has continued to craft updated designs. Newer versions of the Ondu 135 Pocket Pinhole include a bubble level, shutter stop, and engraved lines on the camera making it easier to compose an image.

Before I continue with the pros and cons, keep in mind that my Ondu 135 Pocket Pinhole is first model. This version lacks a few features that newer models have.

Cons:

The camera doesn’t have a bubble level, but that’s okay because my tripod has one.

This version doesn’t have the horizontal and vertical viewing engravings. I may need to make some markings on my camera so I can compose a better shot.

The takeup winding knob lacks any kind of information on which way to wind the knob, or how far to wind the knob. Newer models have an engraving indicating which way to wind the knob. I’ve made some marks on my camera to remind me.

While there is a strong magnet behind the shutter, there is no shutter pin on this model, making it easy to accidently move the shutter up or down.

Pros:

The Ondu 135 Pocket Pinhole weighs 220g, making it a small but sturdy pinhole camera.

The camera comes with an empty take-up cartridge. As you advance the film, it’s rolled into an empty 35mm cassette, making accidentally exposing an entire roll of film impossible.

The camera is very easy to load. Even in the cold weather, I was able to quickly load a new roll of film.

It’s a good looking camera. The wood finish feels good in your hands and looks good.

Overall the Ondu 135 Pocket Pinhole is a fun camera to use. The quality and craftsmanship of having a wooden pinhole is a nice change to cardboard pinhole cameras. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing some additional photos taken with the Ondu. Being that I’m no pinhole expert, many of my shots were poorly exposed or composed. I’ve experimented with three different film stocks and used a simple development method. And though my images are far from the awesome pinhole photos found in The Lensless Podcast group on Facebook, I enjoy this camera so much, it’s worth the time and patience to learn more about pinhole photography.

A co-worker recently came back from Disneyland and gave me a plastic Star Wars Tie Fighter popcorn bucket that she had purchased. With Worldwide Pinhole Day coming up on April 30th, I thought how cool it would it be to turn this Tie Fighter into a pinhole camera. Now, it’s not as much of a pinhole camera itself as it is a pinhole camera holder. Deep inside the Tie Fighter is a cardboard Sharan 35mm pinhole camera.

The Tie Fighter comes apart in four pieces. The wings come off the center Command Pod which is held together with 6 screws. After taking the Tie Fighter apart, I cut out the hexagon shape (Solar Ionizer Reactor) on the back for the pinhole. My initial plan was to cannibalize parts from a few other pinhole kits, but then decided it would be easier to mount a camera inside. This way I wouldn’t need to modify the Tie Fighter, but know that a camera from a kit worked.

I assembled a Sharan STD-35e pinhole camera that I had purchased a few years ago. The cardboard is pre-cut, sturdy, and the instructions are easy to follow. To make sure the pinhole of the Sharan lines up with the opening on the back of the Tie Fighter, I placed two round Velcro patches on the left and right-hand sides of the camera. And to make sure that the camera doesn’t move, or pop open, I placed a Velcro strap horizontally along the back of the camera. The Sharan fits snug and perfect inside the Tie Fighter, ready to take on any member of the Rebel fleet!

To trigger the shutter, I drilled a small hole in the top of the Tie Fighter and attached a paperclip to the cardboard shutter that covers the pinhole. With the top hatch of the pod closed, the paperclip can be pulled up to let the light pass through the pinhole and expose the film. Because the camera is slightly recessed inside the Tie Fighter, the hexagon shape should create the similar shape on the exposed images adding to the uniqueness.

Advancing the film is done by opening the top hatch of the pod and turning the take-up spool counterclockwise. Loading the film and camera into the pod is not easy. The six screws must be removed so the pod can be taken apart into two pieces. The camera can then be removed to load film, rewind film, remove film, etc.

At some point I bought a second Pentax Spotmatic from a thrift store without a lens. Not sure what to do with the extra body, I decided to purchase a pinhole lens cap on eBay and try my hand at some pinhole photos. Using Pinhole Assist on my iPhone, I was able to capture an accompanying image with the settings used for each film shot. Within the app you start by metering with the phones camera, set the film reciprocity, make any necessary calculations for aperture, and then save your profile for future use. These images were made on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, April 24, 2016.

Up to this point in my photography, I’ve never used a pinhole camera to create an image. It’s something that has always fascinated me. I’ve wanted to try it, but never had a real opportunity. That changed a few months ago while listening to the Pinhole Podcast episode #10. The guest was Kelly Angood, creator of The Pop-Up Pinhole Company. Kelly is known for creating a replica Hasselblad pinhole camera out of cardboard and publishing her blueprint online. On the Pinhole Podcast, she half-jokingly says that she was a university student and knew she couldn’t afford a real Hasselblad, so she created her own using cardboard. The success of building this pinhole camera inspired her to start her own company, launch two Kickstarter campaigns, and design two new cardboard cameras. I reached out to Kelly on Twitter and told her that I had never used a pinhole camera and asked if I could review one for UtahFilmPhotography.com. She responded and immediately shipped one out from the United Kingdom.

When the box arrived, it was roughly the size of a medium pizza box. I say this because (I love pizza) it opens identical to a pizza box and it’s the perfect package for shipping flat contents while keeping them protected. Using the step-by-step instructions online and watching the assembly video, I began the process of building my Viddy. The cardboard sheets are silkscreen printed and have a nice appearance. Punching out the various cardboard pieces was easy because the die cut process The Pop-Up Pinhole Company uses is very precise.

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I am not a crafty or handy person. I have clumsy fingers and barely know which end of a screwdriver to use. When I assemble Ikea furniture, my family leaves the house and my neighbors get to find out all the profane words I know. The Viddy assembly process was straight forward, and as each piece came together I understood the simple functions of any camera. Kelly has taught countless school children, teens and adults the basic concepts of photography through the creation of pinhole cameras.

In about 40 minutes my new camera was completed. One thing to mention is the Viddy is capable of using 35mm or 120 medium format film. It’s important to make your film decision prior to building the camera because once you’ve picked a film format, the inside of the camera will be fitted and dedicated to that type of film. Kelly made the recommendation to use 120, so that’s what I stuck with.

Without attempting a single shot with the Viddy, I knew camera shake was going to be an issue. With the Viddy, you slide open the shutter, time your exposure, and the slide the shutter closed. The Viddy does not have tripod socket, so to help eliminate shake, I bought some generic Arca Swiss quick-release plates on eBay. I removed the ¼” screw and attached the plate to the Viddy using some tack putty.

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MeFoto Tripod

One of the cool things about the online pinhole community is their willingness to share information. They know that someone like me is eventually going to come along, want to shoot pinhole, and have a bunch of questions. The Pop-Up Pinhole Company has created their own mobile app. With the app, you simply select the camera you’re using (Viddy or Videre), the film speed, and what type of shooting conditions are present (cloudy, sunny, etc.). The app will indicate the length of time to keep the shutter open for your exposure.

Camera shake is unavoidable. When you’re shooting long exposure times as I did on the beach, the wind and opening/closing the shutter are going to create movement with your camera. This is why many pinhole photographer duct tape their cameras in odd places and eventually agitate law enforcement with the unidentifiable boxes.

Composition takes time. Because there’s no viewfinder, you have to pre-visualize your image composition. This can be frustrating if you’re someone that likes to line things up perfectly using photographic rules of composition.

No two pinhole cameras or images are alike. My images compared to others that have use the Viddy are drastically different. No single person could assembly two Viddy cameras in an identical way. And because of this, images are going to be vastly different. For example, I managed to get a lot of vignette in my images and I think it’s the way I assembled the camera.

Keep the shutter smooth. Aside from advancing the film and other moving parts within the camera, the single biggest component to creating a good image is an easy to use shutter. In the assembly instructions for the Viddy, it points out that you shouldn’t press the brass paper fasteners flat and tight. If they are pressed firmly, the shutter will not slide in a smooth motion back-and-forth. Too loose and you would run the risk of over exposing the image or possibly the roll of film. I think I’m going to partially disassemble my Viddy and see if I can improve the shutter movement.

Keep things light-proof. The Viddy comes with some stickers to help seal the camera body. On my Viddy, I put black gaffers tape over the exterior openings to keep light out once I had loaded the film. However, removing the stickers or gaffers tape is eventually going to wear the cardboard thin.

Ignore everything I said above. Why? Because pinhole to me is about experimentation and those occasional happy accidents while shooting. The only sure image is one you can chimp off the back of a digital camera. To me, the unexpected is what makes pinhole photography fun.

The Viddy from The Pop-Up Pinhole Company is a fun pinhole project camera. The Viddy looks cool. It’s a great conversation piece when you’re out shooting. It’s like a magnet that attracts attention from onlookers who have never seen a cardboard camera. This was a great introduction for me into pinhole photography. The simple and understandable process of assembling the camera really made it my own creation. Now that I’ve used a pinhole camera, I have far more respect for those that can shoot pinhole successfully and artistically. Using pinhole has also helped me realize all the modern tech in our digital cameras we take for granted. Along with my blue UTFP branded Viddy, I’ve decided that I’m going to continue to experiment with pinhole cameras. I purchased a pinhole lens cap and have dedicated its use to one of my Pentax Spotmatic cameras.

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